Wednesday, 24 April 2013

At
the time of child birth, I couldn't find her twin sister’s head and so
mistakenly lifted her upside down; water gushing to her head. Stillborn, she
was revived but paid a price all her life for she was never normal again. When
her father died, she bid his coffin goodbye – a loving goodbye to an alcoholic
who beat her up day in and day out. Her sister missed 2 years of school to
raise her twin – taught her to walk, talk, eat and loved her till the world’s
end. She has finally lost her fight against a fatal disease but her songs and
laughter echo in her soft-toyed room and in my guilt that will always hold me.

Friday, 5 April 2013

He was their most cherished ‘special’ gift after their first
child passed away; he lived a fable until the dreadful day when daddy’s hand
slipped from his and went straight to heaven, taking mummy along.

At 2 in the
morning his window sill was wet with tears as he said ‘daddy will come now’.

But there’s no one to tell him that daddy won’t come.

He stood looking at the
hospital screaming ‘mummy mummy’ till his sister pulled him away saying ‘she’s
not there anymore’.

Friday, 29 March 2013

The forceps-bearer crushed my son’s brain’s nerves when he
came into this world and it paralyzed my dream of motherhood.

We tried teaching
him the ABCD and 1234 in vain, so we sent him to a place for different ones
like him; but it worsened his condition.

He understands his traumas and blames me
for sending him away, away from the warmth of a mother’s bosom.

He wants to
marry and have a family like his siblings do, but time won’t heal the face of
reality – the brain damage he suffered 27 years ago.

I can hear his words that
lay buried deep down in a frustrated heart that has only suffered all along and
all I can do is pray for his life to be shorter than mine so that I can see his
peace before I see mine.

Thursday, 21 March 2013

He didn't give his 10th grade exams because a little before that a group of rogue
boys assaulted him in ways that will always be a mystery. He succumbed to the
mental trauma and the doctors spelled him as ‘a case of severe retardation’. His father died of the shock and left his mother to fend for herself and their special son. He echoes the names of his assaulters, undergoes shock treatments
and has lost the will to live. He is not God’s gift like most other special
ones, but a blemished residue of profanely betrayed humanity.

Thursday, 28 February 2013

He
saw his cousins tying up his mother’s body before they placed her on the pyre and
blames them for it even today-
he is still angry with them.But he eludes this melancholy with fun and mischief, he finds solace in them. He suffers from kleptomania- an irresistible impulse to
steal in the
absence of any economic motive; he stealthily picks up
particular things he is fond of -
soaps, cassettes, money and the likes. From deflating car tyres to
incomprehensible idiosyncratic gestures, this special boy is chasing every ray
of light that can bring him happiness. His mother’s memory holds him up there,
between the rays, till he can hold them in his palms.

These
are stories that need to be told and stories that need to be heard. They spell
bane and despair; they reek of injustice and rejection; a foul play of
betrayal. These are words that haven’t seen the light of day and voices that
have been covert for way too long. But amidst it all is a mesh of love, hope
and belief.

With each story you read, you will witness a tactile
connection to the protagonist, who in this case, happens to have been our
student at some point. “5 Point Someone”
is Advitya’s attempt to quill an affable connection between those who are
different and those who aren't.